


Serenade

by ideallyqualia



Series: Birds and Wingfics [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Birds, Canon Universe, Confessions, Fluff, M/M, Magical Realism, Pre-Relationship, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-07
Updated: 2015-07-07
Packaged: 2018-04-08 03:45:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4289532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideallyqualia/pseuds/ideallyqualia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A songbird won't leave Kageyama alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Serenade

**Author's Note:**

> I'm too tired to give Hinata a bird species here. Shoutout to the bird waking me up every morning that inspired this.

Outside of school, this bird was everywhere. At the park, outside the neighborhood store, on the window sill of his room, or in the tree of his backyard. The same bird. 

Kageyama didn't think he would have recognized it as the same one if the bird wasn't singing all the time. He didn't know anything about birds, but he suspected that it was a songbird from its habits. And it sung all the time, at a cheerful pitch and an unfortunately enthusiastic volume. Kageyama had to sleep with earphones when it woke up at 5 AM to sing, its bright tune and trills grating on his nerves.

It didn't always keep its distance. It was especially brave when Kageyama had food, and he sacrificed bits of bread or vegetables to satiate it. With its beak full, it couldn't sing, so Kageyama sometimes just gave it everything he had until the bird refused to eat anymore.

"You look really tired," Suga told him after one practice.

Kageyama dragged his hands down his face. "This stupid bird keeps bothering me and keeping me up at night."

Hinata was nearby when he said that, and at his words, Hinata deflated, arms falling to the side. " _You're_ a stupid bird," he said in a huff.

That prompted a small bickering session, and after a while, Kageyama invited him outside to see the bird being as annoying as he described.

It didn't appear, and Hinata glowed smugly.

"I think you're just imagining things," Hinata said. He snickered and went home, losing interest in Kageyama's story.

 A few minutes later, the bird reappeared.

 

* * *

 

Kageyama couldn't tell if the bird was intentionally harassing him. It sat in his window and tapped its beak with impatience sometimes, as if it expected Kageyama to open the window and let it come inside. Kageyama thought it was ridiculous, but he didn't know what to do. Since yelling at it and flicking the glass didn't scare it, Kageyama figured that it couldn't be startled into leaving. 

Kageyama grumbled and gave in, buying it a birdhouse and nailing it to the tree, hoping it was what the bird was demanding. If its obnoxious noises  _could_ be called demands.

The bird pecked at it and went in and out of it occasionally, but otherwise the gift didn't appease it. The house filled with rocks and random junk when Kageyama took a peek inside.

The bird resumed clicking its beak on his window, along with singing and swinging its tail around. It hopped on the window sill and flapped its wings rhythmically, twitching and singing, and it gave Kageyama a headache.

When he went outside, it flitted between branches until it found the closest one to him, and it continued to sing and scuttle around on the branch. Sometimes the branch swayed with the wind, but that didn't stop the bird or slow it down. Kageyama swore that it was dancing. 

Sometimes the bird swarmed him out of nowhere when he opened the door and stepped out, descending on him in a burst of speed like it was waiting. Kageyama tried to outrun it once, but the bird had admirable stamina, and he relented to it. The bird brushed Kageyama's face and crashed into his shoulder almost every time, smoothing itself into place and perching on his shoulder. Instead of singing, it made low cheeps, huddling into itself or stepping side to side anxiously. Kageyama pressed his fingers against his eyes and ignored it. 

Kageyama ended up buying it a bird feeder, but the bird rejected that too. The feeder attracted a lot more wild birds to his house, and  _his_ bird was upset by the unwelcome visitors, so Kageyama took it down. He felt like he was being bullied by the bird to care for it.

Instead of a feeder full of seed, the bird pestered him for bread. Kageyama couldn't eat a bagel or even pizza without the bird slamming its beak into the window glass, screeching for a piece of crust. It was happiest when Kageyama gave it a whole bagel, and the bird sat on it as it ate, dipping its head down to pull chunks off. Kageyama learned from trial and error that it preferred bagels with seeds in it, and not bagels with cinnamon or cheese. Once Kageyama handed it a bagel with cinnamon, and the bird tore off pieces and threw them at him while making quick upset chirps.

It looked like any other bird, but Kageyama was sure that it was intelligent. It discovered how to zip open his backpack to rummage for food inside, and it threw tree bark at him when he ignored it. After a while, just feeding it was unacceptable, and it angrily shoved its beak under his hand. It repeated the action several times, rubbing its head into his palm until he scratched its neck, and only then did it calm down, rewarding him with pleased warbles.

It still sang in the morning, cheerfully, puffing up its wings. Sometimes it sat in a tree in his backyard as he played volleyball outside, its head settled between its shoulders and wings bundled to itself to resemble a puff of feathers. If it fell asleep, then its eyes closed, and its body twitched and rocked in the wind. Once in a while its beak opened, too. When it woke up, it stretched its wings and beak wide to yawn and stretch. Kageyama had to admit that it was cute asleep.

It was an annoying bird when it was awake. It liked to sit in the flower pots, huddling under flowers and tugging on the leaves until it tore them off. Some of the plants were perforated with beak marks, and Kageyama  _knew_ that the bird wasn't eating them. It was chewing for fun. Sometimes Kageyama saw it grind its beak without actually eating, a flower petal in its mouth.

Kageyama noticed it in the yard at one point, and he waved a hand over it, standing over the flower pot with the bird in it. "Go away!"

The bird made chirps, but otherwise it wasn't scared. Kageyama tried to push it with his foot, and the bird jumped on. He ended up removing the bird by force, holding it with both hands. It wriggled with muffled angry shrieks until its beak found its way to his hand and bit him, giving itself a chance to escape.

After that, Kageyama set out to actually do something about the bird. Kageyama knew nothing about wild birds, but since the feeder and bird house didn't work, he went to the pet store and bought supplies. Kageyama bought a few sprigs of millet and some toys, hoping that they would distract it from terrorizing the garden.

Kageyama dangled a string of bells and small round mirrors, and the bird's head perked up. It leaned forward in curiosity, eyes bright as its head tilted, and after a minute it flew to the table where Kageyama was sitting.

"Here." Kageyama dumped the toy on the table. "Now leave me alone."

The bird flicked its wings and dipped its head, sticking a foot out to nudge a bell. A chiming sound rang out, and it did it again, this time with its beak. It went into yanking on it, clamping on the metal and shaking it, and it began to drag the whole toy around on the table. Its feet clicked on the surface, and Kageyama saw small scratch marks left behind.

The bird's eyes were narrowed to fight with the bells, and it had to step over parts of the toy as it clicked around. It beat its wings and made clipped cheeps, and Kageyama assumed those were happy noises. It was really scratching up the table, though.

Kageyama picked up the toy and dropped it on the ground.

"Play on the floor. You're ruining the table," he said when the bird's head shot up.

It lifted its foot in reply, curling and uncurling its toes. Kageyama didn't understand what it was doing, but when it slammed its foot down, Kageyama realized it was stomping.

It hopped to the ground with a few flaps. Instead of continuing to play, it raised its foot and repeated the toe curling. Then it shoved its foot in the dirt, dragging it around in lines and shapes. Kageyama saw kanji appear, very familiar kanji that looked like a name.

"Hinata," Kageyama read out loud. "Hinata Shou--  _Hinata_."

The bird shuddered and took a step back.

"Why did you just write that?"

Kageyama made towards the bird, but it jumped up and flapped its wings to take off. Kageyama stumbled from the flurry of movement, and it flew away while Kageyama was distracted.

The next day at school Kageyama trudged up to Hinata, eyes narrowed but stiff and uncertain.

"Hinata," Kageyama said haltingly, "do you--"

Hinata's shoulders and arms bristled, and his mouth twitched. "I thought you'd like it!"

"…Like what?"

Hinata's lips pressed together, and his cheeks puffed. "The bird!"

"You sent it to my house?"

"I flew!"

Kageyama's face twisted. Hinata was gesturing around unhelpfully, no acknowledgement of what he said on his face.

"What do you mean, you flew?" Kageyama asked, stopping Hinata from continuing.

Hinata's eyebrows wrinkled, and he flapped his arms in demonstration.

Kageyama grabbed the collar of his shirt. "What?"

"I flew. I kept visiting you at your window."

Kageyama's mouth worked open and closed. "You're the dumbass bird that's bothering me?"

Despite being held in Kageyama's grip, Hinata edged forward, puffing his chest. "Bothering? I was singing!"

"It was annoying."

Hinata's mouth pinched sourly. "I was singing for you! That's what birds do!"

"No they don't."

Hinata's nose scrunched up, and his shoulders rose. "Yes they do. I'm supposed to sing for someone I like," he said, his voice wavering the further he thought it through.

Kageyama's words fled, and he fell into silence.

Hinata finally elbowed Kageyama's hands away. "It's for the season. It's spring, don't make fun of me!" Hinata jabbed his finger at Kageyama.

Kageyama's mouth still remained closed, but the sentiment of gawking and gaping was there.

"Don't laugh!"

"I'm not," Kageyama mumbled.

"You look like you want to." Hinata's shoulders were still hiked up, and the rigid tension there was now quivering with insecurity.

Hinata took a step back. After another, he blurted out  _bye_ and ran.

When Kageyama returned home, he found Hinata in the tree in front of his house. Hinata was puffed up, an avian rendition of his tension from earlier. His eyes followed Kageyama, and his head was tilted down, beak twisted.

Kageyama opened the door while looking at Hinata. Hinata wasn't budging.

Kageyama stepped inside. He left his backpack on the floor and headed into the kitchen for food, stepping around quietly with his head angled to listen for noise. After a few minutes, he heard small peeps by the window. Kageyama walked up to the window and bent to peer at the glass.

Hinata was fluffed up, head turned away as he cheeped, body rocking a little with the rhythm of his cheeps.

Kageyama slid the window open. "Hinata?"

Hinata kept making low chirps, an aimless cadence without a melody. He didn't look at Kageyama.

Kageyama's mouth stiffened. He picked up a slice of bread and edged it through the window.

"Here."

Hinata's head perked up, and he stopped cooing to accept, his beak silently picking at the food and tearing bits off. He swallowed, and his wings flicked up, his chirps returning with a brighter tone. Hinata rocked back and forth as he continued eating, his feet stumbling and catching on the window sill.

Kageyama sat down at the table. Hinata's warbling was growing into song again, with trills and pitch drops. Hinata's tail was twitching along, and Kageyama had to swallow down a comment about it. Hinata was swaying again like he was dancing, and it reminded Kageyama that Hinata was doing it for a special reason.

Kageyama shifted his eyes away as he reached a hand towards Hinata. Hinata paused and blinked up at him curiously, and when Kageyama's hand came to rest at a hovering position above Hinata's head, Hinata nudged his head up into Kageyama's hand, standing on his toes and eyes closing.

Hinata's an annoying bird, Kageyama thought as he scratched Hinata's head.

**Author's Note:**

> (General A/N that exists at the end of all my fics): I find unsolicited concrit really rude, I'm not looking for any. Please don't tell me someone was OOC/something happened you didn't like/it's too short/etc. in any bookmarks or comments.


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